One snowy night in 1998, Brooke Mulcahy's car slides off the road in rural Vermont. Her car is discovered. She is not. Twenty-one years later, Robert Kirby, Brooke's stepbrother, is paid a visit from a young woman (Lily), claiming to be Brooke's daughter. Since a tumultuous upbringing, Robert, formerly known as "Bobby," has enjoyed considerable success. Now an esteemed professor at a private Upstate New York university, Robert has just received a significant NEH grant. After Lily's visit, Robert's life is upended.

This is a new author for me who I have never heard of before but had read some good reviews of his work so thought I would give it a try. This is quite a dark story where we are focused on two main characters, Robert who is still troubled over the disappearance of his stepsister Brooke and Brooke herself. Brooke has made some dubious decisions in her life and has not always associated with the best of people. This is the heart of the story which is told by these two POV's. Great characterization and a strong plot that really enhances the book and I felt the author did a great job of taking us into the heart of these people's lives. An enjoyable read, four stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dark and disturbing. Bobby's sister Brooke has gone missing in a snow storm. Bobby has been trying for years to piece together what happened. Bobby starts looking for answers when Brooke's supposed daughter shows up on his doorstep.

Wow! I was captivated by All Who Wonder. It's my first Joe Clifford, but definitely won't be my last. I feel like I've found a hidden gem (Clifford) and I'll be sharing/shouting his praise to my family and friends. You know an author is good when almost all of his characters are dysfunctional, yet you can either empathize with them or you actually love them. (Or is that a reflection of my crazy lol). In any event even the supporting cast in this novel are fleshed out and have purpose. For me the story is less about a daughter/half-sister who vanishes during a winter storm and more about Bobby discovering who he really was/is, and how his trauma really shaped his life. The story rings true in so many ways, notably in the dialogue, which is not as easy to do as one would think. Just as in real life people who had it together in youth don't always succeed. While those who were not expected to amount to anything, if not much, find a way to overcome and shine, function and even succeed. Kudos to Brooke for making it. The story left me a little wanting for Bobby to be okay. He still had a lot on his plate in the end, so I'm not sure. But bravo to Joe Clifford for a job well done.

Thank you NetGalley and Square Tire Books for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This book was a crazy adventure in dyslexic family dynamics. The story is about the disappearance of a young boy’s half sister and how he handles it for years to come. The story is full of twists and turns that will give you whiplash.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joe Cliffird for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my review.

I received a complimentary electronic copy of this excellent title from Netgalley, author Joe Clifford, and Square Tire Books via Lisa at Swell Media on September 30, 2023. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read All Who Wander of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am always pleased to recommend Joe Clifford to friends and family. He writes a tight, compelling tale with personable characters who feel like friends in settings he can make you see.

Our protagonist, Brooke, is a very complicated and compelling character, one we would like to see thrive. She is at first her own worst enemy. Before long, we see that she is only what she was compelled to be, by circumstance and family pressure. and Bad Luck is her best friend. Bobby - Robert, too is a likable character created by his circumstances. They will both have your sympathy. They both need a lot more than that.

(2.5 stars)
I consumed All Who Wander by Joe Clifford very slowly by my standards. This was primarily because I found it a nasty book about a nasty man, Robert Kirby, who thought by throwing off his former name 'Bobby' he could avoid responsibility for his actions: "she knows all about us—how they sent me away, how doctors patched up my broken brain. We are better now."

Even before you understand the depths of his depravity, Robert has an ugly world view: "There is a natural competition in any marriage. When one shines, it's difficult for the other not to feel overshadowed." No wonder his wife leaves, particularly when Robert enjoys joking in that "as far as mid-life crises go, a sports car beats sleeping with one of my students" despite noting the joke receives "a deadpanned stare more often than it does a courtesy chuckle."

Bobby's ugliness is not lost on him either: "I am vindictive. If I have to pick sides in the Bible, I favour leaving the world blind." It colours the descriptions in the book, from landscapes to people: "Behind the abandoned mills and closed down factories, slow creeks trickled like a chunky, meaty gravy, feeding toxic pools that sludged beneath industrial slate skies." Unsurprisingly most of Bobby's venom is leveled at those of lower socioeconomic class: "I hate being judgemental, but the woman stinks. With every twitch, a nauseous wave of BO funk and sexual residue wafts over."

This contempt is presented as stemming from the way that Robert successfully climbed out of living hand-to-mouth sleeping in cars with his mother Connie, and became a tenured University professor. This was in no small part due to Connie's previous partner, someone he shows nothing but contempt for: "I don't know what he recalls from our brief time together, if he's skewed history and fabricated the sketch of a loving relationship." The author passes off the abusive behaviours in the book as being natural consequences of kids being deprived of love: "when we come from homes where love is hard to find, we fight for what little of it there is." As a kid who came from a loveless home, I resent everything about this premise.

The author's personal history with alcohol and other drugs infuses the book with a very visceral hatred of people who use drugs in this book: "his entire presence, from his gelatinous shapelessness to his collapsed cocaine nose and train whistle voice, reviled me". He is equally contemptuous of people who engage in sex work: "Maybe I've seen too many movies about drug addicts, watched to many episodes of Law & Order, so I'm left to assume in half an hour she'll be on her knees sucking dick for three-fourths of a Kit-Kat bar." Be cautious picking it up if those forms of stigma and discrimination annoy you as much as they annoy me.

It’s been 20 years since Brooke disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a half-brother and father she had didn’t really get along with. The book uses the now-and-then format to look at what happened leading up to Brooke’s disappearance twenty years prior, and the current time with how her half brother (they have a mutual mother) is dealing with her disappearance. The author did a great job with setting the scene and helping you visualize the story as it was unfolding. I certainly didn’t expect the twist at the end. The author didn’t leave it all tied up together in a nice package at the end, but gave you enough that you didn’t feel left hanging.

This was just too slow for me. Nothing happened and I completely lost interest. Just not my cup of tea.

So much better than I expected.

Highly recommended to everyone who enjoys a dark psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns making it a very gripping storyline. The case of Brooke's
disappearance since 1998 and how her half brother, Bobby, tries to find out what happened to her which haunts him every day for the last 20yrs. Brooke's family life was traumatic, sad, and brilliantly written of her younger days leading to her disappearance, by Joe Clifford

Thank you to net-galley

2 ⭐️⭐️. This review is going to be short because I don’t even know what to say…I just didn’t like this book. I hated all the characters. The storyline dragged on. Most of it was predictable and the parts that weren’t, were just meh. Just a bunch of messed up characters. Subject material contains sexual abuse, drug use, mental issues and animal abuse…all subjects that I don't care to read about. Sadly, I don't recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Square Tire Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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What a wonderful deep dark psychological thriller. All Who Wander is.
Twenty one years ago Bobby's half sister Brooke goes missing.
Her car is found on the side of the road after a heavy snow storm but there isnt any trace of Brooke.
Since that night Bobby has turned his life around and is now a Professor but night that comes back to haunt him when Lily turns up claiming to be Brooke's daughter!
Tales are unravelled and secrets are found but what really did happen to Brooke that night?
This book has some brilliant twists and turns and it was hard not to read it in one setting.

Book Review 📚
All Who Wander by Joe Clifford - 4/5 ⭐

My first read from Clifford and I will definitely be reading more. This kept me on the edge of my dead, with mystery and suspense throughout the entire book.

I loved the back and forth between timelines, it really did bring the story to night. There's so many questions throughout (don't worry you'll get answers) and you can't help but wonder what actually happened to Brooke?

The characters descriptions and development were spot on and utterly fantastic. They could not of been done any better. The book was great from start to finish. A nice fast pace that keeps you intrigued and your desperate to finish the book so you can find out that all important question!

Thank you to NetGalley and Square Tire Books for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

Brooke Mulcahy disappeared twenty years ago and her half-brother is still dealing with this. It became a major news story and he has had to deal with all of the people coming forward and making claims that they have seen her. Then Lily knocks on his office door, claiming that she is Brooke’s daughter. After a difficult childhood and years of therapy, Robert’s life is going well. After Lily’s visit his life begins to unravel. Joe Clifford’s All Who Wander is told in alternating timelines. In 1998 Brooke is a college drop-out, involved with drugs and in an abusive relationship. Her mother had earlier run out on the family and then returned with young Bobby in tow. She died a year later, leaving Brooke to deal with a half-brother that she resents and an alcoholic father. Facing drug charges and abuse, she takes off. Her car is later discovered in a ditch and she is never found.

In the present, Robert is a college professor whose marriage is now falling apart. His troubles started with Lily’s appearance. Now he is determined to find the truth of what happened to Brooke. After twenty years he gets little help from the authorities. What he discovers about Brooke and events from his own past is shattering. Clifford’s psychological thriller seamlessly weaves together the past and the present. While Robert has had therapy, there are times that the stress he is under threatens his control. In a final twist, Clifford reveals Brooke’s fate and what actually happened prior to her disappearance, leaving the reader in complete surprise. I would like to thank NetGalley and Square Tire Books for providing this book for my review.

“All Who Wander” explores Brooke Mulcahy”s life in the 1950s before she runs off the road in a snowstorm and disappears, presumed dead. Brooke’s chapters alternate with those of her younger step-brother Bobby, now known as Robert, an esteemed college professor in the 1990s. Someone has presented herself as Brooke’s daughter Lily, which causes Robert to re-examine all that he knows about Brooke’s disappearance 40 years earlier in an attempt to determine the veracity of Lily’s claim. Joe Clifford has added some creative twists and turns to the story to keep readers entranced until the story’s resolution.

I wanted to like this book. I wanted to care what happened to Brooke. I wanted to care about anything,

I didn’t. To all of the above. Why?

Unlikable characters. Brooke is pretty horrible. Then she takes off and leaves behind her father and brother. Not a close family. She calls her brother defective as if anything is his fault. If she were a child maybe she could be forgiven. She’s an adult abusing a child. Robert is a big old conflict. Haunted by the disappearance of a sister he admits he barely knew. He can’t figure out if he should call his sister, half sister, or stepsister. He goes back and forth on each one without seeming to know. Half-sister, in case anyone cares. He doesn’t seem to.

A dragging plot. There were a lot of scenes that could have been left out. They only seemed to be meant to remind us how horrible a character was. I hadn’t forgotten.

Animal cruelty. See above.

This book fascinated me as it's a thriller and a domestic family drama all in one! Told in a "now" and "then" format, the novel shows us Brooke going missing in a snowstorm after her car crashed (then), and her step-brother, Bobby trying to piece together what really happened even as his marriage is imploding (now). Brooke was wild, experimenting with drugs, loser boyfriends, and just tolerating younger nerdish Bobby. But Bobby--now Robert-- is a distinguished doctor, receiving an NEH award, and believing his wife and young son are the solutions to his crazy upbringing. Of course the two worlds collide, and Bobby desperately seeks answers when Brooke's supposed-daughter, Lily shows up at his door unexpectedly. A wild ride for sure but great fun!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Gripping, thrilling and shocking!!
All who wander is my first novel by this author and I absolutely loved it. I highly recommend this book for fans who love mystery, thrill and shocking endings.

All Who Wander by Joe Cliffird was a wild, psychological thriller. My first book from this author came just in time for fall and the season for spooky, strange thrillers.

I highly recommend this book for readers of Alice Feeney or Lucy Foley. I can’t wait to read more from Cliffird.

Is she dead or is she alive? That is the major premise for this different type of mystery that captured me from the beginning. With a great writing style and effective character development (which definitely gives you feelings about each of the characters) and a narrative that is somewhat unreliable, I found this book staying in my mind, whether I was actually reading it or not. My only caveat, and I realize this is personal preference, is that I could’ve done without a lot of the sexual depictions throughout. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will check out some of his other books, since I enjoyed this one. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

3.5. Although this is not my usual drama (unsolved mystery of family member) I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is about a 20-year old disappearance of a young woman with a colored past and lots of life complications. Her younger half brother becomes interested in getting closure on what happened to Brooke and embarks on a journey to re-open the case. Story is interesting; character development is good, and the plot continued to engage me until the end. Recommend the book.